Organization of American States

Organization of American States Organisation des États américains  (French) Organização dos Estados Americanos  (Portuguese) Organización de los Estados Americanos  (Spanish)
Flag Seal
Motto:  "Democracy for peace, security, and development"
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Official languages	4 languages Spanish English Portuguese French
Demonym	American
Member states	35 states  Antigua and Barbuda  Argentina  Bahamas  Barbados  Belize  Bolivia  Brazil  Canada  Chile  Colombia  Costa Rica  Cuba  Dominica  Dominican Republic  Ecuador  El Salvador  Grenada  Guatemala  Guyana  Haiti  Honduras  Jamaica  Mexico  Nicaragua  Panama  Paraguay  Peru  Saint Kitts and Nevis  Saint Lucia  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines  Suriname  Trinidad and Tobago  United States  Uruguay  Venezuela
Leaders
• Secretary General	Luis Almagro
• Assistant Secretary General	Nestor Mendez
Establishment
• Charter	30 April 1948
Area
• Total	42,549,000 km2 (16,428,000 sq mi)
Population
• 2008 estimate	910,720,588
• Density	12/km2 (31.1/sq mi)
Time zone	(UTC-10 to +0)
Website oas.org

The Organization of American States (Spanish: Organización de los Estados Americanos, Portuguese: Organização dos Estados Americanos, French: Organisation des États américains), or the OAS or OEA, is a continental organization founded on 30 April 1948, for the purposes of regional solidarity and cooperation among its member states. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS's members are the 35 independent states of the Americas.

As of 26 May 2015, the Secretary General of OAS is Luis Almagro.

The notion of an international union in the New World was first put forward by Simón Bolívar who, at the 1826 Congress of Panama (still being part of Colombia), proposed creating a league of American republics, with a common military, a mutual defense pact, and a supranational parliamentary assembly. This meeting was attended by representatives of Gran Colombia (comprising the modern-day countries of Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela), Peru, Bolivia, The United Provinces of Central America, and Mexico but the grandly titled "Treaty of Union, League, and Perpetual Confederation" was ultimately ratified only by Gran Colombia. Bolívar's dream soon floundered with civil war in Gran Colombia, the disintegration of Central America, and the emergence of national rather than New World outlooks in the newly independent American republics. Bolívar's dream of American unity was meant to unify Hispanic American nations against external powers.